Evangeline De La Questtano
by PyroMidnightAngel
Summary: As a young Ranger,Halt fell in love with mysterious Andry,a dancer in Daeon,but left as trouble arose in Araluen.Years later,trouble arises in Daeon yet again.Halt and Will leave for Daeon to stop the deaths before it touched the border,but what awaits is
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I don't know who to write since this is the first Ranger's Apprentice story I've ever written. Oh, wait, John Flanagan. Sorry, haven't touched the books for awhile.

_Evangelina De La Questtano_

It was another normal day for the Rangers, a day where there was finally peace for the Rangers to rest and relax. Halt, Will, Gilan and Horace sat in a circle playing with cards. For the fourth time, Halt sighed and threw his cards onto the pile. Will grinned and smacked palms with Gilan and Horace.

"You boys have been with me for too long," Halt groaned. A shadow passed over Halt from behind. He sighed. "What is it, Crowley?"

The Rangers, namely Gilan and Will, straightened as Crowley settled beside them. He looked serious, which was rare. "There has been trouble in the outside of the kingdom. I need all three of you to go look into it. Gilan, you have to go Whitby Fief. There has been rumors of illegal selling of women for the pleasures of men."

"Where's the place?" Halt asked. Crowley gave him a calculating stare. Halt felt his hair stand up, something that hadn't occurred for years.

"Daeon."

"Where exactly is this Daeon?" Horace asked. "I've never heard of it."

"That's because no one in the right mind would go there. It's located in Toscano, a place where there are people rumored to be against the existence of Rangers and are training people to overthrow us," Gilan explained. "Halt went there once, before he took me under his wing."

Will stared at Halt. "Did you really?" Halt sighed.

"Yes." _I never expected myself to return again_, thought Halt.

_Twenty years ago..._

_Cool air blew through a small cottage surrounded by a vast forest. Halt sat at the doorsteps, his swords and bow by his side. A woman walked towards Halt and sat by him, wearing a dark blue dress that clung to her very curve and movement. She was stunning, with fiery red curls that were held back by a blue riboon, a soft heart-shaped face, full-lipped ,high cheekbones, and delicate features. Her eyes were the perfect green of emeralds. Halt's heart nearly stopped at the sight of her, and was proud of the knowledge that this woman was his. He was young and strong. They could run far away to have their own life. Their own children. _

_The woman's name was Andry, short for Andrianna Bishop, and she was a dancer. Many men had courted her and sought her love, but she'd chose Halt. They loved, but Halt had to leave. Crowley knew of this love and ordered him to return to Araluen._

_Andry wrapped her slender arms around Halt's shoulder, and he caught the sweet scent of honeysuckle that was Andry's personal scent. Halt's heart broke at what he was about to do._

_"Morning, Halt," she whispered, kissing the edge of his ear. Andry leaned closer to nuzzle his neck._

_"Andry," he whispered back, desperation coloring his voice. "I have too leave." Andry stops._

_"Don't," she pleaded softly. " I need you." Halt yearned to say yes, but couldn't. Crowley had threatened to kill Andry. _

_"I can't."_

_Andry looked at Halt, determination in her eyes, then it faded slowly and her eyes became empty voids of nothingness. Halt felt pain stab him in the heart, but quickly pushed her arms away and walked off before he changed his mind. He saddled Abelard, who gave him an evil eye, snickered sacastically, and rode away. As soon as he was out of view, Halt let his tears flow down his face. There was no chance of him returning._

_"Goodbye, my Andry."_

Halt shook his head and got onto Abelard, then took off towards the quickest shortcut to the outside of the forest.

_I'm coming back, Andry. Please be there. You haven't told me something yet. I know it._

**************A/N: This story is entirely of my own settings and not from any of the books. Basically, as you have probably read on the summary, Halt wasn't always the grumpy powerfully dominating man from the first book and Pauline wasn't his only love. Andry is a character I created, NOT from the books. If there is any character in the actual book itself with the same name, I assure you that it's entirely a coincidence. So is the main character, but I'm not saying the name yet.**

**Everything Here Is Mostly Based On My Own Imagination.**


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer: John Flanagan owns RP.**

Nearing dawn, three cloaked figures alighted from the boat they had travelled on and one of them paid the boatman. The old man thanked them and gave them the directions to the castle, then made his way home, whistling. As soon as he was out of view of the three riders, they pulled their hoods off and got their horses to ride faster. Will and Horace spoke quietly to themselves, and Halt did not bother to listen as a light sheen of sweat covered his body. So long, he thought, since then. He felt, for not the first time, afraid and doubtful. Would she be there? Was she going with someone else? Would she receive me with open arms? What was the secret she refused to tell me?

"Halt," Will said. Halt pushed away his morose thoughts and turned back to face Will. "We're setting camp here. We all need to sleep, even for awhile. The journey earlier is exhausting, even if it isn't for you." Halt nodded and got off Abelard. When he got to work on the tent, he found Will and Horace staring at him strangely, for he had no arguments against sleeping on cold hard ground when there was light not far from them.

Will placed a steady hand on Halt's shoulder worryingly, and asked, "Is something wrong, Halt? Maybe you could tell us; we could help you." A slight smile appeared underneath Halt's grey beard, and he grumbled a little, but settled down after all the preparations for the night was done. Coffee was distributed and Halt took some, savoring its bittersweet taste. _Much like how it felt leaving Andry…_

"All right, all right," he grumbled. He sighed, settling down, and poked at the fire with a random , but caused no harm. Will and Horace settled down, avidly waiting for Halt to start. Halt himself started longingly into the flames, seeing Andry in the color of it.

"Twenty years ago, I went to Daeon on a mission. It would take too long to explain it all but; basically it was about a family that was threatening the safety of Araluen. They were plotting to overthrow Duncan, who was a young king then, and I met one of their daughters, a beautiful woman called Andrianna Bishop, while I was snooping about in their castle.

"Despite knowing that I was working to expose her family, Andry did not alert her family as she knew of the wrongness of their work. She asked if we could work together. Obviously, I said no, but she proved me wrong enough times that I finally agreed."

"What did she do?" Horace asked. Halt glared at him, but Horace didn't quail under it, like he should.

"Let's just say she proved to me that most men spill more information to an exquisite dancer than to a small, hot-headed fool." Will and Horace looked at each other. Halt as a hot-headed fool? Halt chuckled. "Oh, I was, alright. Amazingly, she always saved me from blundering too much." He smiled at the memory.

"Two months later, we exposed her family's plans and they were executed. Several days later, she convinced me to give up the life of a Ranger, at least, temporarily, for a life with her. I was so convinced of our life together, for the rest of our own eternity, that I remained hidden for two whole years, untilCrowleycame and threatened to kill Andry were I to refuse. On the day I left, there was something she wanted to tell me. I don't know what, but I'm back here now, and I intend on finding out."

"Well, you came back at the wrong time, _Halt_," a cold voice said. "You should've been back about twenty years ago; Andry's dead." A cloaked figure appeared from behind a tree and settled down on a smoothed rock. She pushed back the hood of the cloak, revealing dark curls of smothering red hair, exactly like Andry's. Halt's heart tightened and a wave of icy coldness sang through his veins.

"Why?"

"Because she was exposed by her supposed allies and her family had her staked for treason against her tribe."Her eyes were icy cold slabs of blue, glaring imperiously at Halt.

His heart seemed to stop beating. _Andry…dead…My promise…Her secret…gone…all…gone…_Everything he had done till now…all for nothing. Pauline…she didn't even matter anymore. Not to Halt. As if in a trance, Halt realized that the lady was Heana, Andry's younger sister. The younger sister who agreed to let Andry be with Halt. How did she know we had arrived? Unless…

"How did you know where we are?" Will asked while Halt was incapacitated.

The lady, Heana, smirked. "I have my connections."

"Connect_ion _or connect_ions_?" Horace asked.

Heana hesitated. "Connection. It was from…a girl…who Andry took in…she was there when Andry was…attacked. She's a slave now, working under her family." Livid flames burst into life in her eyes.

"What's her name?"Will asked, curious.

"…Evangeline. Evangeline…Quest."

**A/N: Ta-da! So the secrets out! Sorry for the long hiatus-busy busy! This is an in between scene from the first and second chapters. Working on too many stories at the same time...Hope you enjoy! Peace out.**


	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer: John Flanagan owns R.P**

Chapter Two

Halt was in a daze as they rode into town. Heana, since the night before, had refused to say anything else about Evangeline Quest. All she was willing to do was stare at Halt, Will and Horace, her expression inscrutable. Will and Horace tried to fill the silence with their chatter, but soon quieted from the tension in the atmosphere.

With Halt in a trance, none of them knew what was going on nor what to do. He was their leader and guide. Perhaps they should wait till he was better before going on. After all, they _were_ in a different country.

"No," Heana insisted. "We should press forward. I've lived here for most of my life and _I'm _unwilling to stay in one place for long-Halt can take care of himself. My…connection might not survive if we wait for the old fool to wake up and smell the change." She gave an unseeing Halt a venomous glare.

Will and Horace hesitated, then nodded. This was turning out to be more trouble than it was. Of course, _when _had their adventures been safe and uneventful? Certainly not since the killing of the Kalkaras.

For several days, they rode on. To Will and Horace's surprise, Heana's mare had no problems keeping up with Tug and Kicker, though one was a Ranger's horse and another a battlehorse. It made both boys, or perhaps men was a better term, curious and impressed. Such horses were rare in the outside world. Whoever Heana was to Halt, she was rich and not afraid to flaunt it. There was more to her than one would expect.

Heana's hatred seemed to stem from more than just Halt. It simply wasn't in the minds of Will and Horace to believe that Halt was the source of all the animosity they were facing. But then, they had always treated Halt as a saint and never thought twice about his commands. Well, after the first few hundred or so.

Fear seemed to be the only thing that linked all the villages they passed together. Flickering gazes, nervous smiles, and an overwhelming tension amongst all the villagers they had met. Despite Horace's many queries, no one dared to speak of what they feared more than death. It was the same with Will, though both men exude friendliness and familiarity at first sight.

Heana snorted. "Men." It was night time. "When will you ever learn?"

Both men lasted a week more before they bombarded Heana for an answer. How Andry and Halt had met.

Not for the first time, Heana sighed. She was, truthfully, quite a beauty, but age had robbed some of it. Seeing horror after horror does that as well, though not as obviously. For the umpteenth time, she wondered what was her purpose in this world, but stifled the musing at the eager looks of the two men. She sipped the honey-laced coffee. Halt laid asleep, not quite out of his catatonic state.

"Andrianna's my older sisterof about five years. Despite the age gap, we were very close. She was one of those women who turned every man's head and caused women to cry in grief at her laughter. I loved her, more than I realized I did. She loved me, but Halt took her away." Sadness threaded her soft voice.

"It was mid-summer. I returned home after a year of etiquette schooling. Andry waited for me at the secret garden hidden in the forest behind our mansion. She wore her favourite dark blue gown, with black lace and cut far too low to be proper. Her hair was tied up with a matching ribbon, showing off that beautiful neck I'd wished I inherited from our deceased mother. A man was with her when I arrived.

"Shorter than average, he carried himself like a king, though he was dressed as a servant. His face was not classically handsome, but carried an enigmatic strength and vitality that took my breath away. His hair was raven-black, with bottomless dark eyes that hid every secret in the world. I was only fifteen, barely a woman, yet I wanted him." Heana sighed wistfully. "Of course, Andry caught him. He is the man you call Halt."

Will and Horace stared, dumbfounded. "What happened?"

"Not long after they met, I learned of Halt's identity and told her. She laughed and whispered that she already knew. They went to spy on Father the very same night; things had progressed to the point where they had to act fast. She pretended to be a dancer. He went in as a waiter. Andry nearly died that same night." She shuddered at the memory.

"It took awhile, before they found enough evidence to incrimminate most of our family. The week after everyone was hanged, they were married. The rest was as Halt had said." Lying, despicable fool. You sent your woman, my sister, to die and Angel to slavery. She's lucky she'd gotten stronger and survived for so long. There were times I'd thought she wouldn't make it. Bishop blood truly runs true in her.

"Who's Evangeline?" Will asked.

Heana was surprised; she'd only said the name once. Bitterness, hatred and anger welled up in her. "Someone Halt is indebted to." For ruining her childhood.

For allowing her the chance to exist.


End file.
